


Around The World and Back

by MeredithBrody



Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M, Surprise Baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-01-21 12:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: So, this started life as a side idea in another fic... and here I am, my first DS multichap. It's probably gonna be slow (and stop entirely through November) but here this is. Specially for the Sendra shippers, love you guys. We don't need no canon!The fic title is from the song of the same name by State Champs and Jule Vera. If you've never heard it, I recommend checking it out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this started life as a side idea in another fic... and here I am, my first DS multichap. It's probably gonna be slow (and stop entirely through November) but here this is. Specially for the Sendra shippers, love you guys. We don't need no canon!  
> The fic title is from the song of the same name by State Champs and Jule Vera. If you've never heard it, I recommend checking it out.

Sore boobs, check. Nausea, check. Tearful, check. Exhaustion, check. Boobs seeming huge, check. Not that her partner had been complaining much about that one. Shortest period of her life, check. Everything right now seemed to be adding up to something that Kendra wasn’t quite sure she was actually ready to accept, or even face. Her relationship was barely six months old, she’d only been in this job for nine months. Was this even really the time for this? She didn’t know, but the first step was going to be telling him what she was thinking. 

Seth was so used to dealing with disasters right now that surely he would be able to work out what they could do to make this seem less like a bad idea. It wasn’t, she was sure of that, she needed to talk it out herself. She needed to know how she was feeling, and she needed to know that what she wanted was really what she wanted. Kendra hadn’t really thought about children, especially since she’s started this job. Looking across the room to the only other current occupant of her office.

A little frog the President had named Cornell.

Sure, he wasn’t the best conversationalist, but at least he was something for Kendra to direct her verbal vomit at while she tried to work out what was going on in her head. She found herself pacing back and forwards, talking herself through everything that could come from both options. It was a habit she had picked up in law school, and it had served her well over the last 15 years. 

Eventually, she was fairly sure she’d worked out her argument, decided what she wanted the outcome to be. It was only then that she was actually ready to face Seth and tell him what had been going through her mind. Telling him at work was definitely the way to go, because then they could both be distracted by whatever the emergency of the day was going to be, and they wouldn’t end up obsessing too much over this. It had already taken up far too much of her day.

She tried to avoid everyone walking across the West Wing to Seth’s office, hoping that nobody was in there. Especially Lyor. Seth and Lyor pretended they didn’t get along, but they actually got along very well. Kendra, on the other hand, was not great at dealing with Lyor for more than an hour at a time. She stepped in the door and looked around, feeling Seth’s surprised look as she did. “You on your own?”

“Ken?” He asked then started looking around as well. He would know if he was on his own, but of course he was checking around anyway. He had to double check, because he was as anxious as her. “Yeah I’m on my own.” 

“I think I’m pregnant.” She blurted it out, she couldn’t stop it, she couldn’t think of another way. They were alone and that was how she told her boyfriend that he was possibly going to be a father, and she did it in probably the worst way ever.

“Wait? Really?” Seth stopped, just staring at her before he jumped up and walked over to kiss her hard. That suddenly made her feel like he was even more excited than she was. She really, really wanted them to be happy but all of a sudden there it was, that crushing anxiety that she was wrong. “That’s amazing!” 

“Yeah. I don’t know for sure, but… I think so.” She grinned as Seth kissed her again, stroking her cheek when he finally pulled back. His excitement was actually making her even more nervous, because what if she was wrong. “Seth, will you come over tonight while I take the test?”

“Of course. How about you drive me home?” He asked, kissing her cheek while she held him tight. “We’ll work this out.” He smile, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. She felt better, and she knew what she wanted, but as soon as she had seen him she’d faltered a little. She felt better now.

Though, as was probably expected, that didn’t last. She also learnt that there was no way to discreetly carry an airsickness bag around, even if she hid it in her files. Though, some of that was probably just in her mind. Nobody else knew what she was doing, and most of her work today was routine. She didn’t have to focus on it, so she could continue working herself up in her mind.

She somehow made it through the rest of the afternoon, and she had never been more glad that there was no national security emergency that was requiring her and Seth to stay late. Kendra had never been so nervous as when she stood in line buying three tests and a box of ginger snaps. She didn’t really want anything else, just those. The  _ witty _ comment from the cashier was almost immediately cut off when Seth came up beside her. She was getting used to that happening in some places. This time though, she thought it was shame that there was an assumption that Kendra had been alone. 

Getting home she had put herself on autopilot, as it was the only way she could get through this part. The nerves were building up and she was sure that she wasn't even going to be able to look when the minute was up. She took it down to the kitchen where Seth waited and ended up burying her head in his shoulder, not even able to look when the buzzing told her that the stick (and it's back up) would tell her whether or not she was pregnant. Even then she couldn't look. “You look, tell me what it says.” She mumbled against Seth's neck, she was comfortable there, and she was fairly sure that she would be able to react better if she was here than if she were the one looking.

“It says… we're going to have a baby.” He whispered in her ear, and a second later she hear the clatter of the stick back on the counter then felt his arm wrapping around her and holding her tighter. This may be something they both wanted, but the shock right now was preventing either of them from seeming too happy about it. Kendra was mostly just trying not to vomit, and not from the morning sickness.

“God. We're having a baby. We're going to be parents.” She was going to have a baby, with a man she loved more than she'd ever loved anyone in her entire life. That was new, and she was looking forward to it. At the same time, she was beyond freaked out. She lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment, Seth's was no bigger. They didn't have the space for a baby.

“How far along do you think you are?” Of course, her instant practical worries were washed away by such a simple question. That required her thinking back over the last several weeks and trying to work out when she had started feeling sick. That was complicated though, and she blamed the White House mess for that.

“I have no idea. Maybe 8 weeks. I've been feeling crummy for like a month I just thought it was that Ukrainian chef in the mess.” Seth had been telling her to stop eating his food almost since he'd started and she'd gotten herself addicted. It didn't actually agree with her, but it tasted so good.

“You have got to stop eating his food.” Seth sighed, kissing her temple again and rocking her slightly, neither one of them letting go nor moving away. She wanted to think about him keeping her held like this as being his way of showing that even though they hadn't been together long he was going to be there for her and the baby. She'd already known that though. To her there had never been any doubt about that.

After another moment of silent reflection she felt Seth's little chuckle before she heard it, and she hoped that this was the start of them working out what was going on. They had created a life, and it was something they would be jointly responsible for for the rest of their lives. “We're going to have a little you.”

“Or a little you.” She could just imagine a toddler Seth running around the house too. She would have killed for that mental image earlier when she was freaking herself out, because it was really very cute. Even while she stood there, her mind turned to more serious issues. The things they needed to do now they knew. “I'll have to tell Emily and the President.”

“We should probably tell Lyor too.” Seth said after a moment, and once again she had to remind herself that they were really friends. They just acted like they didn't like each other. Still though, she really didn't understand why they should tell someone that neither of them reported to.

“Why?” She asked, and Seth just pulled back far enough to give her one of his ‘you figure it out’ looks. She stood silently a second then nodded before laying her head back on his shoulder. “Oh, yeah. Politics.” Seth cared far more about the politics than she did. She wanted to think about the rest. That's exactly what she was doing when another round of giggles started. “What are you giggling about.”

“Lyor's going to hate this.” Seth sniggered again, and even though she shook her head again Kendra allowed herself a smile too. Two unmarried members of the White House senior staff having a baby would be Lyor's worst nightmare, and Kendra was somewhat glad that she was the one who was part of causing that nightmare. There was so much they needed to think about, but that could all wait for the morning.


	2. Presidential Notification

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is being posted because the wonderful VJohnes just reached 100 followers on Tumblr. It may be the weekend before this fic is updated again, but I think it shall be ready to go then. I hope people like, please review if you read. I'm still an anxious little potato!  
> Shin x

Kendra had spent the night being very, very cheerful about what was going on in her life. She’d never quite expected for this, but it was very welcome. Seth was not exactly the man that she’d expected to fall in love with, and yet here she was. The happiest that she’d ever been. Then this morning she woke up, and she was panicking again about everything. Seth was much better at calming her down than anyone had ever been, and yet she was still shaking as she stood beside him making this meeting. “Can Seth and I get 10 minutes with the president this morning?”

“We can fit you in at 11, anyone else?” The standard question, anyone else needed at this meeting, any reason why you needed the meeting to begin with. As she still kept shaking, she felt Seth’s hand slide into hers and held it tightly. Squeezing softly. He was doing what she’d asked, letting her get it out this way as a first step to getting control again.

“Can you copy in Emily and Lyor, thank you.” She still wasn’t sold on telling Lyor, but Seth wanted a political test on this news and she had to agree with Seth that telling Lyor was the fastest way of getting that. Aaron would also give it, but not quite as viscerally as Lyor, and if they wanted an immediate read he would be best. “Need to speak to them both too.”

Seth stepped away, pulling her with him. She was feeling a little better now that she’d made some forward progress. Suddenly she felt like she was out of control, a surprise life change was what brought this on, she was so used to being entirely in control and that was not happening here. Seth still held her hand, and when they reached the split in the corridor between their offices he pulled her into a tight hug. “I'll see you at 11 then.”

“Yep, I should know when I can get in with the OB my GYN recommended.” She had called on the drive in this morning, and she had to laugh at the memory of exactly how uncomfortable Seth had been during that conversation. It was more than he had probably wanted to know, but he was going to learn a whole lot more over the next few months.

“Great. This is good news, Ken.” He reassured her, still holding her close to him, and she couldn’t help but feel so comfortable stood like that. She was shaking every time she thought about telling anyone, and she didn’t want to keep feeling this nervous about it all. She was sure that once she had started making plans she’d be better about it, and when everyone knew, and she couldn’t build it all up in her mind.

“I know, I'm just worried about their reactions.” Alright, the President was going to be thrilled. No matter what else he was going to love that he was responsible for bringing people together. Emily would probably be happy but reserved. Lyor… she didn’t want to even hazard a guess, but she had a feeling that wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Don't be, they'll be happy for us.” She knew that Seth was trying to keep her spirits up, and for the most part it worked, but she knew that he was worrying about this as much as she was. He had just gotten so much better at hiding this from the rest of the world. She could tell, but that was only because they were as close as they were.

“I'm not so sure about that.” That part of her that always expected the worst was the thing that she was focusing on, even though she knew that she was building it all up in her mind. She didn’t want to feel like this, so she just had to let go. That meant getting back to work and doing all their normal day-to-day things. “Don't let the press eat you alive.”

“I'll try.” He kissed her gently then pulled away and went to work. They both had things they needed to do today, though her’s was mostly prep work, and looking at the office she wasn’t sure that sitting alone in here working was best. Though when she looked up and saw the terrarium that held Cornell the frog she at least felt less alone.

“Oh, Cornell. The first lady still not letting you go up to the residence, huh? It's been months I can't keep hiding you in here.” Kendra knew that the President wanted to keep the frog, but that he hadn’t talked the First Lady around. She assumed that her being the newest member of the senior staff still was why she was the one who had him in her office. “I am talking to a frog. This is what my life has come to?” She was asking the universe at large, but of course, by that point, she wasn’t actually alone.

“At least it's a cute frog.” Came the voice, and Kendra’s mind flashed back to the first time she’d seen Lyor interacting with this frog. That had lead to her getting screamed at by the thing, and deciding that as long as she had any influence over who interacted with the frog that Lyor was not to be allowed.

“That it is, you’re not allowed near it though.” She almost threatened, as she just wasn’t really in the mood to deal with the screaming frog. Not on top of the strengthening nausea. Today was going to be another day where she had the air sickness bag hidden in her files. It also meant she had very little patience for Lyor Boone too.  “Can I help you with something, Lyor?”

“This meeting you have me in on, do I have to be there?” Well, that was the question of the day, wasn’t it? Right now she was going to say that, yes. He did need to be there. Even if she didn’t want to be dealing with him right now, and she really didn’t want to be having to think about what to say to Seth if she told him not to come.

“I'd rather you weren't, but unfortunately yes.” She grumbled, and she wondered if with that answer he would go to Seth and try and get out of it. Since it was Seth’s idea he wouldn’t let Lyor avoid it either.

“I'll need to be late for the Fed chair.” That didn’t seem like it was really her problem. She didn’t need to interact with the Fed chair that often though, so she didn’t care all that much if Lyor’s meeting was a couple of minutes late.

“It'll only take five minutes. Don't be late and you'll be out early.” She hoped. The only way it would drag on would be if there were questions, or if someone had any issues. Kendra kind of hoped that issues, probably Lyor’s, would be slowed by shock so they could get out and have another meeting when it wasn’t so new for any of them.

“Fine. If I get complaints I’m blaming you though.” There was not as much argument as she’d been expecting, but she could live with that. She just didn’t have the mental energy to do her job and to deal with other people. Today they were paying her to work or talk, she needed a pay rise if they wanted her to do worse.

“Oh, you’ll get complaints either way.” She called after him as he walked away, then mumbled far more quietly to herself. “You’ll also probably blame me either way.” That much was as close to certain as anything in this White House was. The dealt with an emergency a day, and so she was just glad she could predict what they were going to be mad at this time.

She managed, somehow, to make it through the morning, and at ten to eleven she closed her files and got ready to tell people news that she’d never really expected to tell anyone. There was also a sad part of her that realised only in their profession did they have to tell their colleagues before they told their families, but it was safer for everyone involved. Seth was waiting for her near her office, and the second she fell into step with him he’d just slid his hand into hers again. A silent gesture of support. “You ready for this?” He asked after a few moments, and she had to swallow the bile down.

“No. But we gotta do it.” She was resigned now, and this was the step she needed. When other people knew she would be able to plan, to think, to focus on something that wasn’t the anticipation of how those first people would react. After this, everything would be easier.

“It’ll be fine, Ken. I promise.” He continued reassuring, kissing her forehead softly as they stopped while they waited for permission to go in. She felt the churning in her stomach, and could once again feel the shaking in her hands, but she knew that Seth was right there, and that grounded her some.

“He’s ready for you.” Those were the words she’d needed, and she nodded a little to Seth to show that despite her constant saying she wasn’t ready, she was going for it. They were a couple made of small gestures and small words. They didn’t need anything grand, that just wasn’t who they were.

“Thank you.” She then said to the assistant before she followed Seth into the Oval and nodded respectfully. “Sir.” She said, as they moved around to the sofas, where they both took a seat once the President had resumed his in the armchair. Now she wasn’t sure if the nausea was the pregnancy or that pit of anxiety, but one way or another she was determined not to let it win.

“Kendra, Seth. I’m not used to seeing both your names on a meeting, your disciplines don’t often cross over.” That was one way of putting it. Her discipline only ever crossed with his when there were first amendment issues being discussed, and normally they ended up working that out before work anyway.

“It’s a… personal meeting, sir.” Seth managed to get out without giving the game away immediately. She knew that he was mostly excited, and even now when she looked at him she saw the grin on his face, and that made her automatically feel more excited about all of this.

“We should wait for Emily and Lyor.” She replied, but she felt the smile widening too. Even though it was easier while she was sat here, she still wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to get it out once, let alone twice. “I don’t think I can tell people more than once.”

“Sorry, we’re here, we’re here,” Emily said on cue, skidding into the room with Lyor following only slightly more dignified. It was a full day for everybody, so she didn’t want to hold anyone up but she froze. Everything in her just stopped, and she was pretty sure that she forgot her own name.

“Great. Well…” Seth prompted when she’d been silent a little too long. His hand also made it’s way to the small of her back, the place where it settled in staff meetings and whenever they were all out walking and talking or just watching the President. It was his way of reminding her that he was right there when she needed him. “Ken?”

“I…” She floundered, the words swimming past her faster than she could actually grab them to say something with. This was how she had felt when she was younger and she’d been unable to answer questions in class. She was a lawyer that hated being put on the spot.

The President clearly saw that she was struggling to start, at which point he leant forward and just put his hand on her arm. “Kendra, just say it.” She nodded a little, swallowing softly before trying to think of a way to phrase it. When she couldn’t think of one she just lifted her eyes up to meet his.

“I’m pregnant, sir.” There, she said the words. She heard the momentary surprise from others in the room. Instead of anything else though, just like Seth had, Kirkman split into a smile. “We just found out last night.” She turned her head to take in the varying levels of shock on Emily and Lyor’s faces. Emily mostly looked like she was torn between utter joy and the desire to tease them. Lyor looked mostly confused.

“You’re… wait.” He spluttered a moment later, and Seth burst out laughing the same as she wanted to. It was far more easy reaction than she’d expected, and the grip that her anxiety had had on her mood evaporated, and she immediately felt happier about what was going on here.

“This is where we realise Lyor missed the fact that Seth and I have been dating.” She teased, knowing full well that Lyor actually did know that. She was fairly sure the entire West Wing knew. They didn’t really try to keep it secret. “I’m not really sure what we’re doing yet, but we have a few weeks before we’re going to tell anyone else.” She looked to Seth who nodded but reached out to take her hand.

“I didn’t miss that, but…” Lyor started, then clearly decided that he may as well just burst through the door on his thoughts, just like he did with almost everything else. “Well, you know the best way to announce this would be announcing a wedding too. Politically speaking.”

“What did I tell you? I said he’d be the first one to suggest that.” Seth yelped, and Kendra had to admit that her boyfriend knew Lyor better than she’d thought. It was something they were considering, though she didn’t know if either of them were really going to be ready for that.

“Fine, I owe you a coke.” She laughed a little, glad that they had been totally correct about how Lyor would react. Emily had been harder, but she looked happy for them. Reserved, now, but happy. This was probably something that she’d talk about more with them both in private.

“We don’t need to talk about politics right now. Congratulations, both of you.” As the President stood up so did the rest of them, and Kendra smiled wider as he gave her a gentle hug and shook Seth’s hand. “You’ll both be excellent parents.” Well, that was an assertion she wasn’t sure about, but she hoped that he was right about it.

“Thank you, sir.” Seth said, his hand moving around to her hip and pulling her against him. Kendra had to resist the urge to rest her head on his shoulder and let out another breath she didn’t remember holding. It was all going so well, and she wanted to think about the next steps, they didn’t seem as terrifying now.

“Thanks. We’ll be coming to you for a lot of help, I think.” She almost certainly would be going to the First Lady a lot. Kendra didn’t actually know any other mothers, so that was all she had to help. Her own would try and help, but given her upbringing, Kendra wasn’t sure that she would want to follow any of the advice that her mother gave.

“I look forward to it.” The President’s smile grew almost impossibly wider, and everything felt like the stress and pressure were being lifted off of her. She didn’t need to worry now. Her friends were going to be there with her to help her through it. “Are you excited?”

“Absolutely.” She nodded because this was everything that she had wanted. Everything she had needed to be happier about all of this. “It’s still early days, I’m going to see the doctor between cases tomorrow.” With this, she turned her attention to Emily. While Kendra herself had autonomy, really, within the White House as long as she always had her phone with her and was in court when needed, Seth didn’t have that. “If you can arrange for Seth to get an hour away I’d be really grateful.”

“Sure, when is it?” Emily asked, and Kendra heard the three men talking in the background, but she let them fade into the background, wanting to arrange this, it being probably one of the most important appointments of her life, of Seth’s life too. They both should be there, and she’d regret it if they weren’t.

“One o’clock.” She said, not actually sure if she’d even told Seth what time the appointment was yet. She had wanted it earlier but she had her job to do, and she had a life. “I’m in court until midday, or it would have been earlier.” She really wanted to just know for sure, she wanted to hear it. This was going to be her baby and Seth’s baby. This was just kind of nuts.

“I’ll get it sorted, don’t worry. We can do without you both for an hour or so.” That was reassuring to hear, especially from Emily, given that most of the time Kendra wasn’t sure Emily knew how to take a break. She had never really been thinking about anything like this, and now it was a reality.

“We should all get back to work.” The President said, bringing the meeting to a close. They really did all have to work, and Kendra was sort of looking forward to throwing herself back into her work. She wouldn’t have to be thinking about this, then. “I’m so happy for you both.”

“Thank you, sir.” The said in unison, and Kendra was genuinely thankful, and genuinely thrilled. It felt so much better knowing that people hadn’t freaked out entirely about it. Well, other than Lyor, and Kendra was fairly sure that Emily was going to try dealing with that.

Emily dragged Lyor through her office, while Kendra let Seth pull her through to the main corridor, walking down to where they needed to go, to carry on with their jobs. Put their personal circumstances. “See, not as bad as you were expecting.” He teased as they stepped away from the office. She rested against him for a second and smiled.  “I’ll see you tonight.”

“My place?” She prompted, that was where she was going to be more comfortable talking about this at her home. Not that she was uncomfortable at his place, but they just had so much to do, so much to prepare, and only a few months in which to do it. Talking about that in her space seemed easier.

“Assuming there is nothing here. I’ll come by your office when I finish.” Seth smiled, keeping hold of her hand even as they both knew they needed to go back to work. “Love you, don’t work too hard.” That was not really something possible, not in this job at least. Everything was busy here.

“Love you too.” She smiled, leaning over to kiss Seth again softly, she was so much happier now, and she hoped that he realised that. Kendra had so needed for their friends and colleagues to be happy for them, and now that they were things all seemed so much simpler.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, I'm sorry about this fic going really slowly. It's taken second seat through NaNoWriMo while I wrestle with my last NCIS: New Orleans fic (Title "Past, Present and Future Hearts") in the hopes of one day getting that finished. I'll update this when I finish chapters though.  
> Shin x

Kendra had barely been in work ten minutes when Emily fell into step with her. Over the months the Chief of Staff had loosened up a little, and Kendra had found herself enjoying her company far more than she’d thought she would at first. “So, you and Seth are actually having a baby? It wasn’t some weird joke?” Alright, Kendra would admit that both she and Seth had an odd sense of humour that people didn’t understand, but that was not something she’d joke about.

“No, it wasn’t. Who the hell jokes about pregnancy?” She tried not to be snappy about it, but the fact that people seemed to be so surprised that she and Seth were starting a family together. “Why is it so surprising that Seth and I made a baby? We do have sex you know? A lot of it.” Alright, maybe that was snappy and a little rude, but something was just bothering her about it.

“I don’t know, but… I knew you two were made for each other from the moment you met. There was just a spark we all saw.” That summary made Kendra feel a little bad for snapping, and she refused to use the  _ hormones _ excuse though she had wanted to cry at a bowl of cereal that morning, so it probably wasn’t that much of an excuse. “I just didn’t expect you to be the first one on staff to have a baby.”

Alright, she could agree to that, because she didn’t expect it either. “I didn’t either, but here we are.” She just shrugged then looked at her friend again. She knew that even if Emily had wanted to ask about her and Seth, she wouldn’t have come up like this without something else up her sleeve, and Kendra was fairly sure it was going to be something that bothered. “What do you need?”

“You’re going fighting with the DEA again, sorry.” This case was dragging on, and the fact that they were only ever in court for two hours a day was making it take even longer. She thought they had had a breakthrough, clearly not. “When you know more about this baby, come sit with me and we’ll work things out. Also, we’ll move hiring your deputy counsel from priority three to priority one.”

“That is probably a good thing. I have a few ideas.” Though, in the last nine months she hadn’t found a deputy she liked or could work with. That was why she was now looking into the people she had worked with before. At least she knew that she could work with them. She was good at her job, but especially with this she was going to need to have help, and a regular second chair.

“We’ll get it all together. Send me the names of the people who think, and we’ll vet them.” That would take a lot of the responsibility off of her head. At least if she had one deputy counsel they could look for the two more that she’d need, ideally. “I didn’t say before, but congratulations Kendra. Are you excited?”

“I am, and I’m not.” She admitted, she was happy, but there was that fear in her that made her think she had no idea how to do anything about this. She hadn’t ever really been around children, but Seth had been. It did lead to a decent amount of anxious thought that she wouldn’t know what to do. “I’m mostly terrified. I’ve never been around children.”

“Never?” Emily asked, looking a little surprised when she realised that. It wasn’t something that Kendra had regretted until this exact moment. She’d been too focused on her career to really think about children. Most of the friends she had were similarly career focused, so they had never really had that moment where someone was bringing a baby around. In fact, Kendra was fairly sure she only parents she knew were her mother, Seth’s mother and the First Lady.

“I was an only child, and so were both my parents. So, there were never babies around me. Seth has younger siblings, so he may have more of an idea.” He had helped raise one of his sisters, as he’d been around 10 when she was born. He also just seemed the type that was just good with kids. “I’m just so scared.”

“You’ll do fine, talk to Aaron, there are always babies in his family, I’m sure he could arrange for someone to take you around with a baby.” That was a good idea, and while she didn’t know Aaron as well as most of the others in the West Wing, but she hoped that when he knew Emily’s assertion would be right, and she

“When I’m ready to tell him, and everyone else, I’ll have to ask.” She didn’t know when that would be, but it was something to keep in mind. It was nice that it was being offered too, something else that made her feel a little more supported, and absolutely everything she needed to be even more confident about all of this. “Thanks, Emily.”

“I’ll always be here to help.” She smiled and patted Kendra’s shoulder before starting to step away then turning back, clearly still with something to say. “You sure you don’t need any time?” They were still in a mostly quiet corridor, so she didn’t mind talking about it so much.

“No, not right now. I’d need to save it all up for when he or she arrives.” She knew that she wasn’t technically entitled to much leave. She had a little that she knew of, a few weeks at most, but otherwise, she’d need to save the rest of her leave for the recovery she’d need and to just spend some time with the baby.

“I’ve spoken to the President… when the baby comes… we’re both happy for you and Seth to bring them in, providing you keep them in your offices.” Well, that was something she hadn’t considered. She’d been slightly worrying about how they would afford daycare out of their government wages, but that would actually not be a problem if for a while they could bring in with them, and they could then save up for it.

But, Kendra realised that she was getting far too ahead of herself given they hadn’t even been to the doctor yet. There was still a part of her that didn’t really believe this was happening, and she was pretty sure she’d be getting bad news in a few hours. “That’s a consideration for when we know for sure.”

“So, you’ve got the appointment today?” Emily double checked, and Kendra just ended up nodding softly. She knew that she’d mentioned it earlier, but it was even more real now that it was only a few hours away. She was going to know one way or another and that was scarier than anything else.

“Yeah, one o’clock. Seth and I were up half the night talking.” They had managed to eventually sleep, but they both seemed to enjoy talking when they were in bed. Kendra just liked to be comfortable when she was making plans for the future, especially when they were such important ones. “Just, because we have so much that we need to sort out. Things I didn’t think we’d even need to  _ think _ about for months, if not years.”  

“You guys haven’t been together that long, have you?” That was the weirdest part about all of this for Kendra, she had been in longer relationships and been less careful and never even had a pregnancy scare before, let alone an honest to god positive test. She wasn’t sorry at all, but she did have to laugh a little at fate.

“About six months now.” They had been six amazing months too. She’d been instantly comfortable with him, and she wasn’t often comfortable with anyone. “When we met I just… you know that feeling when you know someone is right for you? Just perfect? That was how I felt about Seth. So, you were right, I guess.” Her feelings just backed up what Emily had said before, but that wasn’t stopping her having second thoughts.

“That’s actually really romantic.” Emily smiled, looking at her the way that her mother had when she’d said that she thought that Seth was going to be someone that she could spend her life with. Then this happened, and she was suddenly debating absolutely everything. “But now you’re thinking it’s all a bit fast?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” She had said as much to Seth, that she wasn’t unhappy, but that she was freaked out a little. He had been surprisingly patient with her minor breakdown. “We’re going to work it out though, Seth is really great about it all.” That was part of who he was, and part of why they worked so well as a couple. They each had their own anxieties, but they were skilled at solving the anxieties of the other. Kendra then bid adieu to Emily, because they both had work they needed to do.

Focusing on her work was all that she could do to take her mind off of everything, then at a little after midday she went to pick Seth up. As soon as she drove up she thought she’d best check that he was there, or at least that he was on his way out. “Hey, I’m outside on the driveway, are you ready?” She asked and smiled a little as she waited for his answer.

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up quickly, but she could hear Aaron in the background. She wondered if Seth had been able to keep his head about it long enough to not let it slip to his best friend in the White House. Not that she would entirely blame him if he did. It was just one more person to tell if she was wrong. Even once he was in the care and settled she couldn’t bring herself to actually speak, just to set off silently. “You ready for this?”

That opened the floodgates, and she suddenly started realising that the more she thought about it the more she was preparing for bad news. Not that she wanted bad news, it was just easier if she was ready for that. “What… if it’s a false positive, Seth? What if we’re putting all this in motion and it’s not true?” That was probably her biggest fear right now, because she had let herself start to want this.

“I’m not sure you can have three false positives?” Seth laughed then reached over and squeezed one of her hands. She was thankful for that because it gave her something to focus on for a second. “Kennie, it’s going to be fine, and we’ll know for sure in 10 minutes or so.”

“Yeah, yeah we will.” She mumbled back, and her mind shut down again. This was how her nerves about anything personal manifested. Seth sat beside her as they filled in all the information onto her forms, and he told her the information on his side that they needed to fill in. Then he just pulled her closer to him as they sat and waited. Whispering little things in her ear to make her smile. It worked too, and by the time they were running ten minutes over she was calm again.

“Miss Daynes.” Her name was called, and she felt Seth move to stand up first, pulling her to her feet a moment later. Even though she was still a bag of nerves, Seth’s gentle attention had managed to settle her in a way she wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to thank him for. She was no longer afraid of the answer, whichever way it went.

“Come on, Ken. That’s us.” He said quietly when she was still moving a little too slowly, he met her eyes and nodded softly, making her smile again and squeeze his hand tightly as they followed the doctor in through the door to the exam room. As they settled in the chairs beside each other Kendra squeezed his hand again, but now she was grinning to herself too. The only time she got up was to go and do the urine test for them, then she was right back.

“Mr and Mrs Daynes? Hi, I’m Doctor Lager.” That was going to be something Seth laughed about for days. Kendra purposefully hadn’t told him the doctor’s name for that reason. Though she couldn’t help but wince at the assumption they were married. It was marked on her file that they weren’t yet, not that that actually seemed to matter to anyone.

“Oh, we’re not married,” Seth said, his smile not faltering for a moment, holding his hand out and introducing himself more formally. Clearly, Lyor’s mention of marriage the day before hadn’t sat on his shoulders quite as heavily as it had hers. There was something about it that had just bothered her, while it hadn’t seemed to bother Seth anywhere near as much. Then again, he was the politician. “Seth Wright.”

“You are the father though?” Lager asked, looking through the form that Kendra had filled in not that much earlier. She was sure that there would be computer records too, but Seth wasn’t on her files and they would need that information too.

“Yes, yes I am. She is pregnant then?” Seth didn’t miss the way that was said with such certainty by the doctor, nor had Kendra, she just hadn’t had the voice to ask. Her worst worries weren’t the truth and she was going to be a mom after all. She was shaking to herself as she thought that through. She leant over to kiss Seth gently before they had even said anything.

“Yes, you are.” There was a smile in the voice, and when Kendra leant back again she was gratified to see she’d been correct. This was the part where they would have to think about what was going on in a more detailed way, and maybe learn how far along their baby was. “We’ll do a check to see how far along you are, though your notes say you think you know round about how far along you are?”

“I think I’m about 8 weeks, nearly 9.” She nodded, that was when she thought most likely. There were points both before that and since that would make sense, but that was the one that stuck out in her mind because she somewhat wanted it to be the night of the state dinner. “You’re sure though, you’re really sure?”

“I’m really sure. I take it this is something of a shock?” Lager asked, and Kendra wondered how often it was that she had couples in who had quite such a strong reaction to the situation that they were in, and maybe even the small sense of denial that they had been in. Or at least, that she’d been in. Seth had seemed to take it all in. Two days, that was all it had been, but she felt like it had been weeks in a way.

“Just a bit, yeah.” Seth’s laugh was infectious, and Kendra chuckled along with him. Amazed that this was all really happening. Her mind seemed to me going both too fast and too slow at once. Memorising everything and memorising nothing. She had no idea what it was to be, but she’d deal with all that in the future.

The scan showed up that she was a little further along than she’d thought, but of course, that made it easier for them to think about everything. The rest of the appointment was basically talking about what she’d need to do to stay healthy, following that they were ready to leave and take the happy news back to the White House. “I… Seth we’re gonna be a mommy and a daddy.” She whispered as they walked out of the clinic, her arm around his waist, his around her shoulders.

“We are, I told you so.” He gloated, and she couldn’t even be mad at him this time. He had been entirely right and he’d spent the entirety of the last 48 hours trying to reassure her about all of her fears. He probably had his own, but he hadn’t talked about them with her, probably knowing that once this bit was over with she’d be fine and would be able to focus more on the other things that were going to come alongside having a baby.

“Yes, you did.” She grinned and squeezed him close to her, always enjoying when they had the time to act like this. They tried to keep it away from work, but that didn’t always work, probably somewhat unsurprisingly. Kendra liked to be quite physically affectionate, and it turned out that Seth was that kind of a person too. “What do you think we should do next?” She asked gently, wondering how he would approach that minefield of a question.

“Well, we should start looking into an apartment together.” That was something she hadn’t thought about. Her apartment had been hers for almost as long as she’d been out of schooling. Before that, even. She’d taken the apartment on when she was at Georgetown, and she hadn’t considered moving. “We both live in tiny apartments, not really set up for babies.” Seth clearly thought that through, which was when she realised there was so much to think about. “I’m not sure we could afford a house, even to rent. Not near enough to work.”

“No, but we could afford a bigger apartment with both of our wages together. One with two bedrooms, and maybe a balcony.” Those were her ideal things, she wanted a little outdoor space, and a bedroom for the baby when it was a little older. They didn’t need much, and she wouldn’t be moving much with her.

“We can start looking, at least.” Seth nodded, clearly not sure that she’d actually be able to find what they were looking for in their price range. Kendra knew better though, she enjoyed looking through properties and assuming that he paid anything near what she did, she was certain she’d find a few things. “I know Lyor mentioned marriage… but do you think we’re there?” Alright, maybe Lyor’s comment had sparked something in his mind, too.

“I don’t know.” She replied, thinking seriously as she reached her car. Marriage just seemed like such a huge step, and she didn’t know when they would get there if they would ever get there. Not all couples did. “I love you, I want to be with you and we’re going to be connected for the rest of our lives… but marriage is a really big step.”

“Plus, Lyor only wants us to do it because of political reasons.” Seth had a point there too. Something about it being political made it seem distasteful. Why did it really matter if they weren’t married and had a baby? “If we get married, I want it to be because we love each other and want to get married. Not because it would be politically appropriate.” That was one of the sweetest things anyone had said to her in a long time, and she was so happy that he’d said that.

“I agree. We need to get back.” She was going to be expected in court again before long. She had petitioned for a long lunch due to a medical appointment, but that hadn’t guaranteed her an undefined time. In fact, she had until two, and it was already a quarter to.

“You’re further along than you thought, too.” Seth mused as they got into the car, she would have to drop him at the gate so she could head straight back off to court. She was fairly sure that he wouldn’t mind it all that much. This was where her life was heading now, running around to all the appointments. Maybe they would need to talk about getting Seth a car too.

For now, though, she focused on the timeline of her pregnancy. It wasn’t the state dinner, but it was close enough. She knew that she wanted that for the romance of the night, but a couple of weeks before that she didn’t even really remember. Not that it really mattered, unlike some, she wasn’t going to be telling her child about the circumstances of his or her conception. “Yeah, 11 weeks. That was a surprise.”

“All of this was a surprise.” Seth’s grin grew again, and she didn’t think she’d seen him without it since they had found out she was pregnant two days ago. She knew that he’d always wanted to be a dad, so it was no surprise he was this happy. “You have court again in the morning, right?”

“I do. I think tonight I’m going to go home and crash.” So much time spent in court the last few days, but she was fairly sure tomorrow would be the last one with the DEA if the afternoon went to plan. Then she remembered something she’d agreed to days earlier and hoped Seth would be able to get out. “I promised mom we’d go see her tomorrow after work.”

“Want me to come over later?” He asked, and for the first time in a while she had to think about that. She would probably have a late night in the office. Today had just seemed like it was going that way. She wanted to be asleep early, but she also knew that she slept better when Set was with her, and she liked knowing that he had the same thoughts on it as she did.

“I’d love you too. Use your key though, I may be in bed already.” If she was in bed, she was not going to be getting up to let him in. That was why she’d given him a key to being with. He needed to get in and out of her apartment when she was sleeping, and she needed to not have to get out of bed.

“I can’t really believe all of this. The woman I love letting me have a baby with her, it’s amazing.” He sounded like he couldn’t believe his luck, and in so many ways Kendra felt the same. This was her first relationship in a long time, and maybe she was thinking that it was all going fast, but she wasn’t scared about it.

“I can’t either.” She nodded, there was something about all of this that was still slightly unbelievable. It would all start sinking in before long though, and she would be able to think about what was going on without having that thread of surprise. “It seems like some kind of weird dream.” Kendra kept smiling softly as she looked at him. “I can drop you off at the White House on my way.” They both needed to get back, and she needed to focus on her afternoon. The rest could come when she was alone, then she could think more.


	4. 13 weeks

Kendra managed to make it through the next two weeks, and marking that giant 'x' off on her calendar the day she turned 13 weeks made her feel better than she could remember feeling for a long time. She knew that it was one of the most important milestones in a pregnancy, and now she was ready for this she crossed it off in blue, while everything else was crossed off in red. She could feel someone hovering in her door, and a voice spoke before she could turn and see who it was. "Big day, huh?"

"Yeah, it is. We're telling Aaron and Seth's staff today." She smiled, turning around to see Lyor leaning against the door. Since they had both come to the White House at around the same time she was fairly sure that he sometimes felt as much of an outsider as she did. Despite them having been here for almost six months now there were still some foibles of this community of people they didn't understand. "They all need to know."

"What about your staff?" Lyor asked, and for a second Kendra wanted to motion to the empty area outside of her office. Usually, there were three deputy counsels and a few assistants, but she didn't have any of them yet, despite the time that she'd been here. Nobody had had time to do the appropriate searches.

"I still don't actually have a staff." She said instead, just in case Lyor thought that her staff were all out working instead of not actually having one. She had at least left the names of her preferred associate counsel and two assistants. She wasn't sure how the suggestion for her associate counsel would go down though. "I did leave Emily a list of potentials last week. I just have my assistant."

Lyor looked entirely confused by the whole point, and Kendra guessed that that was because most newcomers would have a staff by now. The counsel's office was important though, and Kendra was picky about who she worked with. "What? Even I have a staff! Want me to poke Emily a little?"

"Thanks, Lyor." Kendra couldn't help but tilt her head and look at Lyor seriously. Two weeks ago he had acted as though her pregnancy was the worst thing to happen to democracy. Now he seemed to be calm, maybe even a little interested. "You seem much more… calm about this now than you were a couple of weeks ago." Kendra smiled as she remembered how he'd jump out of meetings and take other corridors if he saw her coming. "You even avoided me for an entire week."

"Emily has… informed me I need to take politics out of it and think of it as two of my friends starting a family." The surprising thing about that was not Emily's part, but of Lyor implying that that meant that Kendra and Seth were his friends. She had never gotten the impression that Lyor counted anyone as his friends. There was a warm feeling that spread through her that she couldn't quite explain at that.

"We're your friends? Well, she's not wrong." Kendra watched as he nodded, and the warm feeling intensified. That was when she realised that she thought of Lyor as her friend too. It wasn't as though she didn't understand where Lyor was coming from. She understood entirely, she just didn't think it would matter as much as Lyor thought it would. "I know you don't like the optics of two of the President's advisors being unmarried parents."

"It's not just that you're advisors, Kendra." Lyor stopped her, and she decided she needed to actually listen to his concerns. She may not care about the politics that much, but she knew that Seth did, however much he maintained that their family would come first. So she nodded, to let Lyor continue. "Seth is the President's mouthpiece, you're his lawyer. You're two of his most senior advisors, and more than that Seth is…"

She didn't know where Lyor was about to take it, but she had to interrupt him before it went there. Kendra did know that it wasn't Lyor's own thoughts, that he spoke for what the electorate would say, but she really wasn't in the mood. "You be very careful with your words, I'm pregnant and I have a mean left hook."

"Sorry, it's just…" Lyor sighed and looked as though he didn't know how to say what he was thinking. Kendra knew that she should wait him out, because he was going to get there before long. She might not like his thought, but she was going to listen to it regardless. "All our jobs are to protect the president."

"Lyor, Seth and I getting married wouldn't change the majority of the optics, the people are used to him by now. They know him, they trust him. Us not having wedding rings won't change that." Kendra was sure that the public already knew Seth and she didn't think learning he was a father without being married was going to make all that many people stop trusting him. "Neither he nor I want to get married just for the sake of optics. We'll get married when we're ready too, and not a moment before. Coming with?" She needed to set off to this meeting with Seth and Aaron.

"Sure. As long as you're happy, Kendra, I do mean that." Lyor smiled and nodded, accepting what she was saying gracefully. She was appreciative of that because right now she just wasn't sure that she could talk any more about it. At least she could tell him that they were happy, almost deliriously so. She still couldn't really believe that all of this was happening.

"We are, we really are." She nodded, and when she looked up again Seth was waiting for them at the door to his office. A moment later he fell into step beside them and reached to take her hand. "Hey, babe. Lyor was just talking about how happy he was for both of us." She liked putting Lyor on the spot, and Seth's grin and sideways look was enough to show it.

"He was, really?" Seth added as much sarcasm as he could to that sentence, and Kendra found herself just smirking wider. There was far too much fun for her to have here with making Lyor uncomfortable. Kendra knew that she shouldn't enjoy that so much, but she did.

"Yeah, he actually was." She smiled then waved when Lyor pointed down one corridor beside them. "See you later, Lyor." She paused only for a moment then squeezed Seth's hand tighter and smiled. "Having a good day babe?" While she was sure that Seth would have remembered the importance of today, he hadn't said anything yet, so she wanted to just prod him a little.

"How are you feeling today? It's a big day." He did remember. That was a relief. She wanted to keep that being something that they remembered. Today was the day where she started believing that they were actually going to have a baby. The two of them together, a little human.

"I know, 13 weeks. A third of the way through." It seemed to make it feel longer, though. Saying she still had two-thirds left. Not as long as saying 23 weeks though, that somehow sounded even longer. All of it was less than a year, less than half a year, even. Seth squeezed her hand and smiled.

"And we're less likely to have complications from now on." As they got to Aaron's office Seth stopped and pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her neck a couple of times. It was comfortable and Kendra had to admit she needed this. "I am the luckiest guy on the entire planet." He whispered in her ear, and Kendra just grinned at that. She knew that he was thinking that right now, probably people thought something different.

"I think our boss would disagree with you." She teased, knowing that when it came to his private life the President often thought of himself as being the luckiest man on the planet. Given that he had a family he loved very much, and Kendra hoped that she and Seth would be able to emulate that, she thought they were all very lucky.

"Nah, he's a different kind of lucky." Seth grinned, and it was obvious that he truly believed that. If Seth felt that he was lucky she wasn't going to argue, especially when he put his hand on her stomach. Still flat, but they both knew what was growing inside her. "I'm this kind of lucky, because I have you, and we have this little one. So I'm the lucky one." He smiled, then pulled her into the office where Aaron and Seth's staff were already waiting.

Seth's staff seemed to take it better than Kendra had expected, and Aaron just seemed to be a little confused. The staff though were clearly going to use this as a reason to tease their boss again. "So let me get this straight, you got Kendra pregnant?" One of them asked, pointing to Kendra. "Most of us still aren't sure how you got together."

"That's generally how having a baby works." Kendra actually blushed a little at that, while she had said far more detail to Emily, she barely knew Seth's staff, and she didn't want to think about them having any ideas of details. "We're not the first people to have babies ever, you know. Our boss has two of them."

"Yeah but… you two." Kendra didn't even see who spoke then, but even she couldn't stop herself from laughing a little at that. She knew their relationship was a little unfathomable to the majority of people. She really enjoyed seeing the people who didn't get them try and work it out.

"Hey! Go, do some work, anger some journalists." Seth smiled, clearly not taking any of the teasing seriously. Kendra was staying silent until the staff were out of the room, not because she didn't trust them but she just didn't know them well enough, and her brand of teasing Seth was very different.

"You're telling your staff to anger journalists?" She grinned, watching as Seth got up from where he'd been sat at the front of the room to where she'd perched herself on the arm of the sofa. Aaron, meanwhile, was still sat at his desk, clearly just thinking it through in his own way.

Kendra smiled a little when Seth took hold of her hand. "What else do I do? My specialty is angering journalists, it's something they'd be best to learn." In a way, that was hell for her, since she would be the one dealing with any first amendment

"Point conceded." She responded, just another of their little routines, not normally done with an audience though. Kendra actually realised that until they found out about the baby even their friends had never really seen them together. They were both very, very private people so a pregnancy was actually in a way their worst nightmare. It was such a public thing.

"Do you two talk to each other like this when you're alone?" Aaron asked, looking between the two of them, amused. Kendra actually really liked that he seemed to just be supportive of them. Which given the situations recently seem much better than Lyor and Emily, who always seemed to be more concerned about the politics.

"Yeah, pretty much." Kendra smiled and stood up after checking her watch. She had so much work to do and she was due in court, so she needed to get going, and she'd leave Seth here with his friend. "Babe I'm due in court, help Aaron wrap his head around this." She teased and kissed Seth gently then waved at Aaron.

"Sure. Don't vomit in court today." Seth was about to become a murder victim given that she hadn't told anyone but him about the fact she'd needed continuances to do that and she wasn't the happiest she'd ever been that he'd told Aaron that.

"Thanks for that, Seth." She groaned, waving to Aaron again, hoping that he wasn't going to be too scarred by some things. "I told you that in confidence." She shook her head and carried on to the door before stopping. "You're in trouble."

"I'll make it up to you tonight." He replied, and Kendra just smirked and left. It would be more fun to leave Seth to actually explain that to Aaron. She hoped that Aaron had actually taken it as well as it appeared. It would be nice to have someone on their side for a little while. "I'll see you when I'm done. I'll use my key."

She managed to get through the case, but missed all the meetings, so she called Emily and said that she was heading straight home. A pizza and bed were sounding perfect for her, and she was sure that Seth would be home before too long. He was busy, and she ended up being exhausted, so she went to bed, being woken up a few hours later and recognising Seth's smell as he got into bed with her. Clearly realising she was awake he whispered quietly. "Hey."

"You're home." Obvious, but still the first thing that came to her mind. She had been asleep, for the most part, but she always slept better when Seth was around now. She had gotten used to him being there, as they had spent almost every night together since they'd started sleeping together, even when one or the other was working late they had done something like this. It made her realise how much they still had to do.

"Yeah, Emily kept me late devising a press strategy," Seth explained, crawling in and spooning behind her instantly. That was where they were the most comfortable at night, and Kendra smiled as he started kissing her neck and cuddling into her a little more. "Were you asleep?"

"Not really, I was just dozing." She had been asleep but she wasn't going to admit that. She was far too happy to have been woken up by this. She turned her head a little so that she could kiss him deeply, feeling Seth's hand sliding down to her stomach, settling over where they both knew their son or daughter was growing steadily.

"How's our little potato?" He asked keeping his hand where it fell, she pressed her forehead to his and just smiled then put her hand on top of his. Mostly though she couldn't imagine them calling their child a potato, but he wasn't that wrong. At the moment their baby was still smaller than a potato. She did want to know what had made Seth call it that.

"Potato? You're calling our baby a potato?" She grinned, cuddling her head down and trying to get settled again. She wanted to go back to sleep, but she wanted to try and talk to Seth. She'd missed him tonight, and she wanted to spend a little bit of time with him, cuddling and talking.

"I don't know why. It works though." Seth chuckled, right in her ear, and the movement of air and his facial hair tickling her. It made her giggle, and she had to admit that it was nice to have that. She'd been single for a long time before she'd met Seth, and she'd forgotten how nice it was to have someone around.

"I like it." She admitted, though she wasn't entirely talking about calling the baby a potato. She was half asleep still, and her mind was making strange connections, but she still didn't want to sleep. "We're both fine. Glad you're here." She squeezed his hand, as they were both happy to know that Seth was home. Especially since it meant she could sleep better. "It's much easier to sleep when you're here now. I'd like you to be here all the time."

"You know we were talking about getting a place together?" Seth asked quietly, still in her ear. She wasn't exactly sure what it was about this position, but it did always make her easier to agree with him. "Is all this furniture yours?" That was a weird question, and she had no idea where Seth's thoughts were going.

"No, hardly any of it is." She didn't own much here. She'd taken this apartment when she was fresh out of law school and she'd wanted to work at the White House. "I've had this apartment since I left Georgetown though. It'll be weird to leave it." She knew that it was what she needed, what they both needed, but she didn't actually want to move even though she knew this was not going to be a good place for a baby.

Seth clearly knew that that was part of her problem because he knew her better than she knew herself sometimes, and this was definitely one of those times. "It's too small for a baby though." She knew that, though at first, it would be fine, she wanted for her and Seth to have their own place by the time the baby came along.

"I know, besides… I'd rather have our own place anyway." Turning again she kissed him deeply, then laid back and closed her eyes. She was starting to fall asleep again, even though she wanted to keep this conversation going. It wasn't working though, her exhaustion was starting to get the better of her too.

"I'd like that too," Seth whispered, and kissed her again and closed her eyes. "Ken, you're half asleep, we can talk later." She wanted to argue, but she wasn't going to do that. At this point, she knew that they both needed to sleep really, as they both had to go to work again in the morning.

"OK then." She agreed, settling down. Seth kissed her cheek and neck again. She couldn't actually stop herself from thinking about all of this. She had so many thoughts, so many desires. So much that she wanted for both of them, and she was sure that he did too. "I just want so much for us. Seth."

"I want all of it too, but mostly right now I want you to sleep." Seth smiled again, cuddling up to him and feeling herself dropping off. That wasn't going to stop her though she really wanted to keep talking, even if her mind wasn't as sharp as it usually was.

"We have to talk about the future." She tried to continue, but she wasn't even sure herself if what she was saying was understandable. In fact, the pause after she spoke made her think that through the yawn and the general exhaustion she wasn't making sense.

"Another time, Ken. When we're both awake." She felt him settling back into his usual position behind her. He was starting to sound just as exhausted as she felt. "I love you."

"I love you too." She mumbled, and this time she just let her mind go and drifted straight off to sleep. For the next few days nobody had time to talk about anything. The job of governing the country came first, and Kendra actually didn't mind that. She didn't mind having a few days where her job was vetting everything for legal landmines, but she did regret that she didn't have any time to talk to Seth. By the time they got finished, alternating between apartments based on how tired they were, they both just wanted to sleep.

A break in the routine finally came a few days later and while sitting in the Oval after a staff briefing. Lyor was, of course, the one to bring it up again, and Kendra knew that while he may have tried to take politics out of it, neither he nor Emily had truly managed to. "Now that the national security issue is over with, we do need to talk about Seth and Kendra's announcement."

"You mean for the baby." She replied, and truthfully she hadn't even thought about making that statement. She wasn't an elected official, nor was Seth. They didn't have to announce for any reason, and she didn't know if she wanted the whole world to know. "I don't think we're there yet." That was her best answer, and she really wasn't. She didn't know if they would ever get there.

"You're going to be showing soon, Ken." Emily was trying to be soft-footed. Kendra could tell that, but that wasn't a reason in her mind. So what if she was showing, so what if she was in labour in front of the press corps. Until the moment that she decided she was announcing that she was pregnant, she wasn't going to tell people that didn't need to know.

"Em it's not about that, they can still speculate about that." It would always only be speculation until they confirmed it. This was something she'd dreaded about starting a family, even before she was working here. Telling everyone had always just seemed like such a big deal, and she didn't like the attention on her private life. "I just don't want the whole world to know yet. We've only known for three weeks ourselves."

Seth picked up where she left off, clearly realising how uncomfortable she was as he reached and took her hand. "We haven't even worked out what we want to do, yet." That was true, at least the logistics. "Let us work it out for ourselves, then we can know what we're going to say to everyone else." Kendra looked at him and nodded, squeezing his hand while she did. She'd have to remember to thank him later. "You all know we're private people, and this is a very public situation."

"What is there to work out?" Emily asked, and Kendra suddenly realised that she was now separate from people who had been peers just a few weeks ago. There was so much now that she was going to have to try and work out, and if someone even had to ask they had no idea the commitment that she and Seth were preparing to take.

"Where we're gonna live, what we're gonna do for childcare. How we're going to do this." Seth spoke before Kendra could, and he managed to say what she was thinking in a better way. "We love each other, but we haven't been together long." Children are a big commitment."

"Seth's right, Alex and I were in a similar situation when Leo was conceived." The President spoke for the first time, and everyone fell silent and just looked at him. The only one making any movements was the only person who had also stayed silent through all of this, and that was Aaron, nodding his agreement to what the President said.

"So we, what..? Pretend nothing has changed?" Lyor asked, clearly still concerned but not wanting to go against the President's wishes. None of them would want to do that, and Kendra hoped that having the President on their side was going to mean that they would be able to put this to bed. "Pretend there isn't a pregnancy?"

With a nod, the President confirmed that that was exactly what he was meaning. "That is exactly what we all do." He said then motioned around the office, clearly meant to indicate the West Wing. "Within these walls, it's known. Outside of this building, it's a private matter, until Kendra and Seth decide otherwise."

"Thank you, sir." Kendra managed to get out, though the tremble in her voice may have alerted people to her being more upset than it appeared. These hormones were not easy to deal with, and she was hoping that they would run their course and become a little more manageable before long.

"Give them time. They'll work it out. I'm sure of that." The President smiled, clearly addressing Emily and Lyor with that. Kendra didn't want to leave it lingering very much longer either, she and Seth needed to make the decisions, and they needed to focus on that.

"Thank you, sir." Seth smiled, still holding her hand tightly. Kendra was actually thankful that he hadn't tried letting go because she wasn't sure that she would have gotten through this meeting if she hadn't had him to hold on to. "We'll work it out soon. Just, we need to work it out." She nodded, smiling at him then.

"You should all go back to work now, and we'll meet again at the end of the day for progress reports." The President had clearly had enough of this bickering and arguing, not that Kendra blamed him, so she was stood up and smoothing her skirt out before reaching to grab her files. She was ready to make this step, she just wasn't sure everyone else was.


	5. Bleeding

For the last couple of days Kendra had to admit that she hadn’t been feeling well. She thought it was just morning sickness, but she was more tired than anything, and today it was distracting her in the middle of the staff meeting, she knew what was going on, but following it was more difficult than she wanted to admit. “It’s another spineless attempt to put us on the wrong side of public opinion.”

“All we can do is put it in a drawer again,” Seth recommended, and Kendra realised that she didn’t know which bill they were talking about right now. These were the kind of topics that they would ask her about and in reality, Kendra wouldn’t know about any of it anyway. She wasn’t here for the politics, she was here for the legal side of it.

“Sir, I’m really not sure we can pocket veto this again. We need to make a stand.” Lyor stated, sounding more than a little incensed. This was often how these meetings went, and she just ended up sitting and listening. She was trying to pick up more of the politics, as they would be much easier to learn about than other things, but a lot of it still went over her head.

“Kendra?” She heard her name and looked to the president, realising that he wasn’t asking for her opinion but the legality of whether or not he could pocket veto this again. She wasn’t sure why he was checking when they all knew that Lyor was not talking about the legalities. He was talking about politics.

“Well, legally speaking you can pocket veto it as many times as you like…” She knew the law around it, she was actually fairly confident that everyone else in the room knew the law too, but it gave her an opportunity to set Lyor off, and when she didn’t have to deal with it that was something that amused her. “But I don’t think Lyor was speaking about issues of legality.”

“No, I was talking about it politically.” He confirmed, starting to push back against everyone else who had been telling him to drop this for weeks now. It wasn’t something that any of them could win on, and nobody really wanted it to pass. Just a veto would make it seem like the President was against it, and politically that wouldn’t work.

“This is a moral issue Lyor, so surely checking the legality is sensible…” Emily said, obviously fed up with Lyor’s pressing this matter too. None of them really cared that much about this bill, but it was Lyor’s pet hate at the moment, and so he would bring it up whenever he could.

“Kendra, are you alright?” The President interrupted the bickering, and she hated that he’d drawn attention to how uncomfortable she was all of a sudden. She wasn’t exactly sure what was the matter, but she felt like going and being alone while she dealt with it was probably going to be a better idea.

“I’m not sure.” She answered honestly and stood up, smoothing her skirt out on automatic. “Excuse me, everyone. I’m just going to head out to the bathroom.” She didn’t wait for permission, and she barely wasted any time getting to the closest bathroom to the oval. She managed to stop for a second and look at her reflection, pale and sickly, before the whole world around her went black as she collapsed.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been unconscious for, but when she started being aware of her surroundings again the first thing she heard was Seth’s panicked voice. Why was he in the women’s bathroom, how long had he been in here, for that matter? She moaned softly, and when she did the words became slightly clearer. “I think she’s coming around. Ken, Ken can you hear me.”

“Wait… what happened?” She mumbled, refusing to open her eyes just yet. Everything hurt, and she still felt sick. Now though she could add a splitting headache to her list of symptoms. She still didn’t really know what had happened, or how she had ended up on the floor here, but she guessed that it wasn’t good.

“You collapsed. We have the President’s paramedics on the way.” That was Emily’s voice, so Emily was there too. How many people had seen her like this? Given that she wasn’t in the most comfortable of positions and was feeling somewhat exposed she truly hoped that it wasn’t all that many. She didn’t need the paramedics though.

“No, I… I’m fine.” She finally opened her eyes and went to sit up, but Seth’s gentle pressure on her shoulders kept her in the same position. She looked up into her boyfriend’s face and saw the worry in his expression. He wasn’t going to let her go without being checked over.

“Babe, you’re bleeding so you need to be checked over.” The tone of Seth’s voice made her realise what he was saying. It wasn’t from her forehead, she was bleeding and in her current condition that couldn’t be a good thing. She knew that bleeding tended to mean miscarriage in pregnant women, and she’d been so hopeful that they were through that worry.

“I passed out.” That much she was starting to remember or realise. Her thoughts were still largely jumbled. That could be from the head injury or from whatever it was that had caused her to bleed and pass out. At least that would explain the headache. “Think I hit my head.” She mumbled, once again speaking more to herself than to anyone else around.

“I think you did too.” Seth answer then leant down and kissed her forehead softly. What she hated most about this moment wasn’t that she had been unconscious on the bathroom floor, but that Seth was so worried about them. Kendra didn’t like to see him worried, or upset, and right now she couldn’t do anything to stop him feeling either emotion.

“Everyone out of the way, please.” Voices that she was unfamiliar with this time, and she guessed that the paramedics had arrived. How they would all fit in this bathroom she didn’t know, it wasn’t that large and Seth still hadn’t let her move at all.

Emily pulled Seth away a little, clearly trying to give the paramedics more room, and as she did Kendra felt the resistance in Seth’s hand. He didn’t want to move away any more than Kendra wanted him to be, but the paramedics did need the space. “Come on, Seth.” She said quietly, stepping him out the door.

“I’ll be right here, Kennie. OK.” She heard called, and barely followed the rest of the conversation instead she focused on answering the questions of the paramedics, but that was harder than she expected with her head still swimming. “She’s 14 weeks pregnant, too.” She heard Seth shout in, and nodded an agreement to the paramedics, realising she hadn’t mentioned that either.

“We’ll take her to GW.” They said as soon as they had her on the gurney. Kendra was ready to get this all over with, but she was actually afraid, and she didn’t really want to be alone. Her throat felt like it had closed up though, and she couldn’t seem to force her words out, even when she tried.

“Seth, you should go with her.” A male voice, Kendra couldn’t tell who it was. Most likely Aaron. Lyor would have wanted to try and make sure that everything was still running smoothly rather than worry about her. He showed his care by keeping everything else going along as usual.

“Can I, I’m her boyfriend?” Seth was almost beginning, and Kendra hoped they’d say yes. She didn’t know how she’d cope on this journey as she started to be more aware of what was happening if she didn’t have him by her side. She was fiercely independent most of the time, but they were going through this together, so she wanted him to be there with her.

“Sure.” Seth took her hand as they walked her out through the residence, avoiding the press corps and everyone else who would want to know why there was an ambulance at the West Wing. It would get out, but her privacy wouldn’t have been breached in the process, and she was thankful for that.

The examinations once she was at the hospital were as uncomfortable as she’d always thought that they would be, and she had a feeling that no matter what that wouldn’t have changed. It wasn’t her doctor talking to her, but the ER’s attending, she was hoping for her own doctor, but he wasn’t here. “There is significant bleeding, but I have good news.”

“Yeah?” She asked, clinging on to Seth’s hand as the waited for anything that could be construed as good news. Right now they both needed good news, as this situation seemed hopeless. Everything they’d been hoping for, possibly ending on a floor in the West Wing, that was how she felt right now.

“The cervix is still closed.” He smiled, but Kendra didn’t actually know what that meant. How was it good news? It didn’t exactly sound like good news. Clearly, their confused looks made him realise that they didn’t understand, so he just smiled a little and nodded. “We’ll do an ultrasound when your OB gets here, but I don’t believe you’ve miscarried.”

“You… you think?” She sat up a little more, and she could see the surprise on Seth’s face too. It seemed like they’d both been resigned to the fact they’d lost the baby, so hearing that maybe they hadn’t was kind of amazing. She daren’t hope that the doctor was right, but she really wanted him to be.

“I do. I know you were probably not expecting that. There is no evidence that you’ve lost your baby.” He smiled then pulled away ready to let her put her legs down and get a little more comfortable. She’d still have to wait to learn for sure. “Okay you’re done, we’ll be back in a minute.”

Seth looked so broken when he turned back to her. Kendra knew that this was going to be something that played on his mind for a while. No matter what, whether the baby was still alive or not, she felt that Seth was going to panic whenever something happened. “I thought I was going to lose you. When I saw you there on the floor… My heart stopped Ken.”

“What happened?” She asked quietly, reaching over and taking hold of Seth’s hand tightly. Just wanting to remind him that she was still alive, still right there. It was the only way she could reassure him, but she needed to know what had happened. For her own peace of mind if not for any other reason.

“What do you remember?” Seth would have made a decent lawyer if his inclinations had ever been that way, but she wasn’t going to point that out now, instead she squeezed his hand on thought back over the day. She didn’t even remember going to the bathroom. She knew she’d been there, pain told her that she had hit her head but that was pretty much it.

“A staff briefing, I was arguing with Lyor.” It wasn’t really an argument, but it was a disagreement, and Kendra didn’t even know what it had started about. That wasn’t really necessary to what had been going on. She couldn’t imagine how Seth felt seeing her there. She could think about how she’d react if she’d seen Seth like that, but that wasn’t the same as actually having seen it.

“You went to the bathroom, said you weren’t feeling well.” She hadn’t been feeling very well for a few days, she wasn’t that surprised that that had been why she was in the bathroom. “When you didn’t come back Emily went looking for you. She found you on the floor, you were bleeding.” She fell silent, focusing on what Seth told her, and a few things came back.

“I started feeling faint.” She mumbled, thinking it through. She’d looked at the mirror, saw her face in the mirror. She’d been so pale, that had been Kendra’s first realisation that she’d been really sick. She would have shouted someone, but it had all happened far too fast for that though. “Banged my head on the sink.”

Seth leant over and kissed her gently, keeping hold of her hand tightly and she could tell that everything right now was just his way of trying to keep himself feeling better about all of this. He was worried still though, that was obvious. “You’re okay, though?” He still sounded scared, more than scared, he sounded terrified. Asking her about how she felt was hard because she didn’t really know until they knew whether their baby was alive or not.

“I will be when we know about the baby.” She didn’t really know how she felt about anything until she knew that. That was going to be the moment when she’d know if she was going to be alright. She was worried about Seth though, especially since he seemed to be thinking and worrying. “Are you okay sweetheart?”

Seth was frowning a little and Kendra wondered what was going on in his mind. He suddenly seemed to be more nervous than anything, and she was sure, sure that he was going to have to ask about their child, what she thought, and when he started speaking she was sure that this. “Ken… I know we said we weren’t ready for marriage but…”

She interrupted him at that because she didn’t need to think it through. Baby or no baby, this had proven to her that Seth was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. “Yes.”

“I haven’t even asked yet!” Seth split into a smile, and Kendra was so happy to see that expression on his face. That was what she hoped for, and what she wanted to see more of. Alright, he hadn’t technically asked, but still, she was too happy not to have split into a smile.

“Well… ask then!” She prodded, still holding his hand tightly. She didn’t know what was going to happen here with them, but she hoped beyond all hope that they would get good news, and all of this would just be a bad memory in a few days.

Seth’s grin rivalled hers, and even if they had been saying they weren’t going to get married, they weren’t going to rush it, this seemed more perfect than she could believe. “Will you marry me?” He managed to look serious for the question, and that was enough for her.

“Yes.” She leant across to him and kissed him deeply before resting her forehead against his. It was a comfortable moment between them, and she was so happy that it had happened. This morning, she would have probably said no, but going through this together she’d not really had any choice. It had changed everything. “Yes, I will marry you, Mr Wright.”

“That sounds like a really bad pun.” He chortled, and she had to admit that that had been in her mind when she said it. She and Seth shared their love of terrible puns and extremely dry jokes, and this was how she was going to introduce him to people for a while.

“I regret nothing.” She laughed then kissed him again. Trying to forget that there was still a huge question mark over everything else in their lives. At this moment she felt that as long as she had Seth by her side she was going to be able to survive it all. Go back to work, move on. She was always a survivor, this was just another challenge.

Distraction was exactly what she needed for the next couple of hours, though they brought her OB in they hadn’t seen a reason to admit her. Instead, they were told that things would change based on the ultrasound. So when Lager arrived and brought one in with him she could almost feel her worry radiating off of her. She clung on to Seth’s hand, waiting. “Here you go, folks. A strong heartbeat, right here.” The sigh of relief they both released at the same time felt almost like a breath of wind, it was unanimous and simultaneous.

“Wow. Our little potato.” Seth smiled and kissed her forehead. Kendra had to admit that it was nice to see their baby, just big enough on the screen to make out its little movements. Far too early for her to be able to feel herself, but clear as day on the screen. “Where is the bleeding coming from?” He then asked, always needing all the information.

“You see this area here?” Lager asked after a moment, highlighting a section a little away from the baby. There wasn’t much that Kendra could make out, other than some of it didn’t look the same as the areas around it. They were slightly darker than other parts of the scan.

“Yes.” She said, feeling Seth nodding, not picking his head up off of hers. Their baby was okay, that was something she hadn’t thought would be possible a few hours ago, and she had been sure that they would have been trying to work out what to do next. Instead, there was a medical explanation, and their baby was fine.

“This is the placenta, and you’re still early enough that we can see two distinct clots behind the placenta.” That didn’t sound good, but given the lack of concern on Lager’s face, Kendra thought that it wasn’t as much of a worry as she immediately thought there was. “Either one of them may bleed from time to time, but they are not harmful on their own.”

“What does that mean?” She wondered if it meant she was going to have to spend the entire pregnancy on bed rest, that would make her insane. Would she have to change things around? All of that would be so very intrusive, but she was sure that something could be worked out with the president depending on what she needed.

“We’re going to monitor you and your baby very closely, Miss Daynes.” Lager smiled, still seemingly less concerned with the blood clots than he had been when he found out she didn’t eat meat and prescribed her folate and iron tablets. “I’ll want monthly scans, at least. Bi-weekly preferably. Otherwise just be careful, continue with your usual routine.”

“Why such close monitoring?” Sometimes Kendra could murder Seth for his curiosity. He really did have to know everything and understand everything. She didn’t really care why the monitoring was needed, if it meant that she and baby potato were fine then she would do whatever Lager was recommending.

“To make sure that neither clot is causing any problems for your girlfriend, or for baby.” So the common sense answer. Lager then handed her a fact sheet and nodded a little. “You will probably bleed from time to time if it’s heavy, thick or you’re worried call my office.” She nodded, seeing that the information sheet was pretty much exactly that. “I’m going to be putting you on my high-risk list, so we’ll check on you more.”

“Thank you, doctor.” She smiled, looking at the baby for one second more before the screen was turned off and they had to move along. Back to everyday life. She had a feeling that if she called Emily and said she’d be in the next day that their boss would put his foot down. She’d still try, she had a lot to do, but she also wasn’t going to argue with anyone who said that she needed one day of not doing anything.

“Yeah, thank you.” Seth shook his hand before he left the room then leant down and kissed her again deeply. The relief and joy they shared bonding them together even more than before. “The baby is okay. Can we… not find out what we’re having, the sex? I’d like to be surprised.”

That was sort of adorable, but Kendra liked the idea. She had wanted to find out, but she’d try to be patient for Seth. “I’m only 14 weeks, they can’t know yet anyway. But yeah, let’s keep it a surprise.” As she thought about it, there was actually one very good reason for not knowing the sex. “Besides, if we knew what we were having I don’t think the President would be able to resist buying all the baby clothes he could.”

“You’re right.” Seth laughed, then his mind clearly slipped back to what had happened earlier, darkening his expression just a little. She wanted him to stop focusing on it, to think about the good things, that everything and everyone was okay in the end. It was something simple, something medical. Something that wouldn’t necessarily cause them problems. “I was so scared, Ken.”

“We’re okay Seth, we’re both OK.” She stroked his cheek and pressed a thumb to his lips, feeling him kiss the thumb on automatic. That was what they both wanted, and she was certain that soon he wouldn’t think about this. They would have so many good things to focus on instead. “You haven’t lost either of us, and we’ll be careful.” 

“You really want to marry me?” Seth asked though it was more teasing her than anything. She could at least know that that was something that she was absolutely certain about.

“I do. See I’m saying it already.” She joked then thought about what this hospital trip was going to mean for them. There wasn’t much more that they could do. “We’re not going to be able to hide the pregnancy though. The press are going to ask what happened.”

“I know they are, but I don’t have to confirm the rumours.” Seth had actually already wanted to tell the world, she was the one who still had reservations. Now that the baby was okay she wasn’t going to be as tight about that. Everyone who needed to know had been told, including his family and her mother.

“Try to avoid it, but if you’re going to say it… just say it. Everyone important knows now. I’m not ready, but I’m not ready for so many things.” She really wasn’t, but this was what they wanted. Sometimes that was more important than what they wanted, or what they were ready for. Kendra was ready for their family to be a family, and she was hoping that she wouldn’t have to wait much longer.


	6. Officially Engaged

Kendra had been right, the moment she'd mentioned going in to work to Emily and the President she'd been told, in no uncertain terms, that she was to take the day. Still, that had ended up in her sitting in Seth's living room with files she had her assistant bring over, working on the phone. When she knew it was time for Seth's first briefing she turned the TV on, even though she was waiting for Aaron to come back on the phone at the time. " _Seth. Is there any more information being released about the member of staff who collapsed yesterday?_ "

" _Why did the President and Chief of Staff give the statement?_ " Related questions, but Kendra could already see the strain on Seth's face. She had proposed she release a statement through his office to try and stop these questions, but he'd said that he'd be fine and that he could approach it with some distance. She wasn't sure he would have distance when it came

" _White House Counsel Kendra Daynes collapsed yesterday in a bathroom in the West Wing. As she is Senior Staff there was a reason to use caution. However, after staying last night at GW for observation she was released home this morning and will be back to work tomorrow._ " Seth had picked her up this morning and had looked like he barely slept. She needed to try and get him to bed early tonight to make up for that.

" _What was so serious that she needed to stay in overnight?_ " A man, of course, it was a man who asked that kind of a question. Kendra could almost see every woman in the room shooting daggers out their eyes at him. The rumours of her pregnancy had started a couple of days ago, and since there hadn't been a denial most had assumed it was true.

That was when Seth paused and realised he was going to have to confirm it too. It wasn't the announcement that they'd had in mind, but with the circumstances, it was the best they could hope for. " _Miss Daynes experienced a mild pregnancy complication, both she and her baby are fine._ " That hurt, for a reason that Kendra couldn't explain to herself. Maybe it was hearing the baby be  _her_  baby and not  _their_  baby, but she was sure that would be hurting Seth just as much.

" _So you're confirming that she is indeed pregnant?_ " The question was expected, and the look on Seth's face made her realise that he knew he'd walked into that and now they were all going to know it was his baby too. Their relationship hadn't ever been truly secret, they'd just never announced it.

"You walked into it, Seth." She said, and she just sighed a little, muting the TV as she didn't really want to watch the rest of it. She wasn't sure that she could cope with anything else going wrong right now, especially when she was having to give her legal advice over the phone.

Aaron had clearly come back to the phone at some point and had likely been waiting for her to realise, or reply to something. She'd been too busy watching the press briefing that she hadn't really been paying attention to the phone in her hand. " _You realise that you're not on the phone with him, right?_ " The voice made her jump, but she wasn't going to admit to that either.

"I thought you were still doing something." She said honestly, though when she looked back over the file and replayed the conversation she didn't know why Aaron was so unsure. He knew what to do. "I'm not sure why I waited though, Aaron you know what you need to do. Providing the military is not involved…"

" _It's a civilian action and doesn't jeopardise posse comitatus._ " He repeated with a tired tone. She'd been trying to drill that one into him since the court case they met on, and she had to admit to a sick pleasure at seeing the internal wince he had whenever she mentioned posse comitatus. " _You're like a broken record with that act._ "

"It's one of my favourites." She actually did like that act as it protected the people in a way that they probably rarely thought of. Aaron was beginning to understand her passion for that part, and he knew everything else. "You've got a handle on it and it's not urgent, I can deal with it tomorrow."

" _You'll definitely be back tomorrow?_ " There was a note of concern there, and Kendra wondered what was going on that nobody was telling her. Not that it would matter if there was an emergency she'd get called to court, if not she would be able to deal with it in the morning, even if it was only more firefighting.

"I will. I would have been back today but the President put his foot down." She smiled to herself, and Aaron's chuckle reminded her that nobody would have been surprised by that. Tom Kirkman was so very protective of his staff, and Kendra was sure if he had his way she'd have been off until Monday.

Aaron took a breath before his next statement, and that made her narrow her eyes. Was he about to tell her something he shouldn't? Instead, he went in a totally different direction that just led to her being confused. " _Kendra, I'm glad you and Seth are happy together. He deserved some happiness._ "

"I'm glad we're happy too." She decided not to ask what he was really going to say and instead made it so that he would have an excuse to get off. "Thanks, Aaron, if you leave the amended file on my desk I'll get to it first thing." Aaron's files were generally the most pressing on any given day, anyway. National security always trumped politics. "Also, when you see Seth, tell him to call me."

" _Will do, see you tomorrow Kendra._ " She responded in kind then hung up and dropped the phone to the sofa, looking over to see that Seth was wrapping up his briefing. There was a part of her who wanted to know how hard he'd floundered after the point she watched up to, but she felt like it would probably be better for her if she left it and just accepted that now the world knew she was pregnant.

She had managed to make a sandwich and not fall asleep on the sofa by the time her phone next rang. Though a nap did sound good, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if she fell asleep now. She was glad that the name on the caller ID was Seth's. " _Hey, Aaron said you wanted me to call you._ "

"I thought you were going to tell them the whole truth about the baby?" It wasn't an accusation, she just didn't know why he hadn't and that was something that was slightly concerning to her given all that had gone on in the last 24 hours, and may go on in the next 24. They hardly had the most stable lives.

" _I didn't know how to segue to it._ " She'd give him that, there was no easy way to go 'oh yeah it's my baby too' when neither of them knew how much they actually wanted to reveal to the outside world yet. " _You did tell your mom last night, right, about being in the hospital?_ " That worry was sort of sweet, but really her mother wouldn't have minded that much.

"I did. The rest of my family found out through this briefing though. Can't see my collapse being headline news though." She really couldn't. Even after half a year in the position, she was barely known outside of politics, and those who did know really didn't care that much about the president's lawyer.

" _Your pregnancy might be though. Especially in the conservative press._ " Seth had been worrying about that ever since the day they'd found out, but it wasn't really that surprising. The conservative press was choosing any opportunity to take shots at the Kirkman White House, mostly because it wasn't enough for them. They were rarely enough for the liberal press either, though. It was the definition of no-win.

She had been on the internet though, and her very private Facebook page was mostly full of her cousin posting every link with her name in it on her wall. "Oh, there are already a couple of religious editorials denouncing an unmarried White House senior advisor being pregnant." She had been surprised that Jess had found those, but in another way, it wasn't actually surprising at all. "Not that I think it would be much better for them if we were married."

" _Not noticeably, no._ " Seth agreed, and Kendra pursed her lips. There was something she really hated about her private life being the topic of such debate. She was not the type who had ever wanted to live in the public eye, really. " _Are you bored?_ " That was another issue, and probably why she had been almost falling asleep.

"Unbelievably so. I have been apartment hunting though." That was the one thing that she had found the time to do today, and with both of them being able to chip in she'd found some good options relatively close to work that would work perfectly for them. They weren't perfect, but with their lives, right now perfect was not really a possibility.

" _Anything in our price range? Did we even talk about a price range?_ " In reality, they hadn't even actually spoken about moving in together, but given that she was working out of his apartment right now, and half her wardrobe was here, they had both just taken it as an assumption that now they were going to actually move in together.

"A few just under what we're paying separately now." That was how she'd worked out their maximum. She didn't think that either of them would actually want to pay any more, or really have the ability to pay more than they already did. In a way moving in together was going to be a good thing, really, as it would help them save some money.

" _How do you know what I pay?_ " Seth asked instead, clearly forgetting how easily she remembered things like that. He had only needed to mention it once and she had pretty much memorised it. Largely for something like this. She'd always known that her ability to hold numbers in her head would come in handy.

"You ranted about your rent once and I know my rent." They actually paid almost exactly the same a month, and given their apartments were roughly the same size that probably wasn't all that surprising. "We pay just over fifteen hundred a month each. So that's three thousand a month. We'll actually be saving about two hundred a month." That would likely go on childcare and other baby things, but it was a saving that would help out some.

" _I don't need the math. You going to make some appointments to look around?_ " She had already been making them and would have to forward them to both their assistants so they knew when they would be out of work over the next couple of weeks. Double booking for these would not really be advisable.

"Yeah. I tried to only look at the ones with a decent travel time to work." Half an hour at most, which was a considerable shortening of the commute for her. While for Seth it would be a little longer. "I kind of hate that the most outdoor space we're going to have is a balcony though. I always wanted to give my children more than I had."

Seth had a saying that Kendra was beginning to get truly fed up with, and she could tell that she'd given him the opening. It was true, but the fact that it was true was not something that she liked to admit. It had started as a joke between them, but now it was a frighteningly accurate view of the future. " _Ken we can move to the suburbs…_ "

"When the next guy's in office. I know, I know." That seemed like a very long, long time away. A really long time. Longer than she really wanted to wait. At the same time though, she didn't want to leave the president, and she knew that Seth wouldn't do that either. "This baby is going to be at least 6 by then." She grumbled a little, their first was still going to have largely grown up in an apartment in DC, and for some reason, that was annoying her today.

" _If you're feeling up to it, put a nice dress on. I'm taking you out tonight._ " That was a change in conversation, and Kendra wondered for a moment what it was that had made him think of that. They weren't the 'going out' type of couple most of the time. Their dates had tended to be dinner in her office and a movie on Netflix, so actually going out made her wonder if something had happened.

"What have you done?" It was the only thing to think about. Did he have to make up to her for something? The briefing hadn't gone that badly or had something happened after she'd muted it to talk to Aaron.

" _Nothing, just dress up a little._ " She sighed and tried to remember what dresses she had here, she'd brought a few for official functions but she wasn't sure any of them were appropriate for a date night. " _I can picture you right now, in black sweats and my red Harvard sweater._ " Kendra looked down at her exact outfit and groaned.

"How did you know  _exactly_  what I was wearing." She demanded, realising that there was a possibility that Seth just knew her far too well. That was actually probably exactly what it was. He knew her well, and he knew that she was always cold, so she would steal his sweaters to try and warm herself up.

" _Because I know you. I'll see you tonight, love you._ " He hung up before she even had a chance to reply and she realised he was probably off to another meeting. Finding a dress was easier than she expected, it even had long sleeves. It was only August and yet she was already feeling the chill at times. It was likely mostly in her mind, but she  _felt_  cold and that counted.

Seth getting home from work early was even more suspicious for her, and she was really not sure what was going on. She decided to put it out of her mind and just go with the flow, getting to have a night with someone she loved so deeply without worrying about national security was a nice change. "This was a great dinner. I didn't even know there was a vegan place this high class here."

"I went searching especially so that I knew you could eat everything, and no chance of milk making you sick." She wasn't a vegan, she was a vegetarian, but dairy had been making her really sick since she'd gotten pregnant. The smell of it just seemed to make her want to disappear, and it was nice to be somewhere where she didn't have to worry about that.

"You're too good for me, Seth." She smiled, moving the napkin from the middle of her setting. She turned to get something out of her bag, another of her folate pills, and she swallowed it with the water. When she looked back at the table there was a little velvet box in the middle of her setting. "What's this?"

He picked it up and smiled, just holding it in his fingers while she looked between him and the box in his hands. "I picked this ring out on our second date, I bought it on our third, because that was the day I knew." Seth's conviction in saying that touched her, but she didn't follow. Or maybe she did, and the part of her that was a pessimist just didn't want to believe.

"The day you knew what?" It wasn't really a question, was it? She knew what he was implying she just didn't know if she could actually believe it. It seemed something amazing, something unbelievable. The kind of thing that only ever actually happened in fiction.

"That one day I would be asking you to marry me," Seth confirmed, smiling at her softly as he said that. She didn't really know what to reply to it, as Seth moved to being on one knee beside the table. "I know it's corny but I'm doing it properly anyway." He chuckled, and Kendra had a feeling that he was talking about their proposal in the hospital the day before. This felt far more official and far more meaningful. "Kendra Daynes… will you make me the happiest man on the planet, and honour me by being my wife?"

"Yes. I will, of course, I will!" Their smiles couldn't be matched as Seth slipped the ring onto her finger then moved up to kiss her deeply. She just looked at the ring for a moment, realising that it was exactly the kind she'd always imagined. Understated but beautiful. She then just grinned looking up at him and shrugged. "Now can I have dessert?"

"That's your first question after I do all this?" He looked exasperated, and that just made Kendra want to burst out laughing. This had all been a beautiful moment, and it was something she was going to remember forever, but she was being dictated to by her cravings at this moment.

"Hey! The baby wants sugary goodness, who am I to refuse it?" She teased, listening to her body often meant that she didn't have the most amount of self-control on the planet. Twenty minutes later they were done with their meal, and Kendra decided to check her phone. "How do I have twenty 'congratulations' texts? Did you tell anyone you were planning on doing this tonight?"

Seth pulled his phone out to check his at the same time. "We were seen." He sighed, and Kendra had to wonder how many messages he was having to scroll through to figure out what had gone on. "Holly Robertson of the Post was in the restaurant. Pretty good view of our table."

"What?" She asked, not understanding that comment at all. She knew that Holly Robertson was a reporter, but she was more often than not covering the crime beat. Kendra didn't know of her covering politics.

"She got a picture of us." Seth handed his phone to her as they stepped away from their table. ' _Press secretary @sethwriteWH proposing to his girlfriend (I think @KDaynesWH)_ ' Well, wasn't that exactly what they had needed. Kendra needed to remember to put the twitter app on her phone, then this would have made far more sense.

"Well… at least we have a reminder of the moment." That was her trying to put a positive spin on it, because she knew that this was one of the things they'd both sort of wanted to avoid. Now there was going to be no more questioning of who the father was, at least. "Is this even going to be news outside of the political gossip."

"No, but that's bad enough." Seth wrapped his arm around her protectively as they walked toward the front of house. She didn't mind this part of the night, but she had been hoping they could spend tonight celebrating in private. "Guess we're not going to be keeping this secret for long."

"Or at all." She pointed out because they really hadn't kept it a secret. Thanks to that one reporter the whole world knew, and by now Kendra was certain that the rumours would be flying around those that followed politics, or even just those who wanted to talk about this kind of gossip. It always seemed to do well. "Your morning briefing is going to be fun tomorrow." Kendra then spotted Emily's text, this one not a congratulatory text, but telling them that they would all need to be in early and that it was going to be a long day. It was lucky she'd kept scrolling. "Emily pushed the staff briefing up to 7:30."

"We should get home then." That was something that Kendra had been hoping he'd say. She was getting to be tired, and she knew that they would both have to sleep. Not that she planned on going straight to bed still. "I'll pay, meet you at the door." He kissed her cheek then left her to walk to the doorway.

She was stood just outside the door, regretting that she didn't have a jacket, when her phone started lighting up and the ringtone she had reserved for family played. She was willing to bet that this call was from her mother and that the elder woman was going to be thrilled with this. " _Kendra! You're engaged._ "

"Mom you're not even on twitter!" She yelped, earning herself a strange look from a couple walking by. Kendra just held her clutch in front of her stomach as she waited for Seth to catch up. He was probably going to be as thrilled as she was at learning that their news had been broken by her someone else.

" _Your cousin Jess called me._ " Of course, it was her cousin, that was the most predictable thing ever. Kendra had been sort of hoping that Jessica would have been able to keep it to herself until the morning. That was the problem that she had with social media most of the time, it was far too instant. " _Are you really engaged? When is the wedding going to be? Who is going to walk you down the aisle? You know I can't do that. My legs aren't so good._ "

"It happened like… ten minutes ago! So I don't know when it'll be. Soon probably." She should have known that the moment it was confirmed to her that her mother would be thinking all about the service and what would happen. "Mom we work at the White House, it's not going to be a big thing. Haven't thought through who might be walking me down the aisle but I may ask the President." She wasn't sure yet, but nobody had had more effect on their lives than their boss, and Kendra was fairly sure he would want to be involved. "Want to say hello to Seth, mom?"

" _You both come by for tea tomorrow. We'll talk more then._ " Her mother solved everything with tea, and everything could be planned over tea. Kendra wasn't sure she'd be able to stomach being around the milk for that long, but she'd try for her mom. " _Janelle is here to put me to bed. Love you baby._ "

"Love you too, mom." She replied then sigh, when Seth just wrapped his arm around her shoulder she reciprocated and leaned into him. Kendra couldn't explain how angry she was with her cousin, but she was. "Jess called her. Remind me to kick Jess' ass when I next see her."

"She lives in Ohio, I don't think there is much trouble there." Seth teased, knowing that the way she was feeling now, Kendra would kick her ass and he wouldn't be able to stop it. Kendra didn't mind that though. "We'll call my mom tomorrow. I told her I was going to officially propose, so she won't be surprised."

"Everyone is going to be surprised." Well, they would have been when they first saw that tweet. She doubted that anyone would be surprised when they confirmed it, given that they'd been busted. "Surprised… But in the best way."

"They are. Come on." Seth pulled her along, clearly ready to get her home now too. At least at home, they would be out of prying eyes, and she didn't have to think about anything else. Didn't have to think about journalists with Twitter accounts or people talking about their business.


End file.
